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Chapter Text

Things weren’t looking so good for Junhee’s social life.

Since her parents had split up, her father had a sudden compelling urge to pack up and move to the backwoods of nowhereville.

She’ll miss living in Seoul. Oh god she’ll miss it. 

Junhee had hoped her father was going through some sort of mid-life crisis - gambling wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, and as long as she was safe in Seoul with an abundance of Superman comics at her fingertips, she really didn’t mind. 
But here she was. Hours and hours away from any of her friends, and worse, missing the summer olympics hosted right there in Seoul.  
Maybe being shunned from civilisation wasn’t so bad right now. The sight of a phone would’ve made her sick. Pretty much all of her friends were going to see the Olympics and she sure as hell didn’t want to hear about what she was missing.

Even in the midst of Seong Gihun’s anticipation and excitement of showing his children where he had grown up, Junhee’s boredom was evident on her face. Although she hasn’t expressed it verbally, he knew neither of his kids were too hyped about this trip.

Well he knew Junhee wasn’t happy, actually. His eldest son, Namgyu however was slightly harder to read. He peered back at his children in the rear view mirror of his Austin Metro. 
 
His son Namgyu, sat at the window. Square black sunglasses sat on his forehead, pushing his raven black hair away from his face. He wore plain washed jeans, and a knitted grey sweater hung over his broad shoulders, his hair now grown out past his face.

Gihun noted that it no longer simply fell by his shoulders, but rather lay scattered. It seemed Namgyu took time earlier to style his hair in typical 80s loose curls, his mullet style haircut in a battle against the sunglasses on his forehead. 
His gaze, now directed out the car window was habitually, unreadable.

The Walkman cable tracing up his body, was met with small silver crosses at his ears. 
Gihun’s gaze drifted over to his daughter. Upon looking at her, he wondered how he’d managed to raise two completely different kids. 

Junhee donned a plain white t-shirt, tucked into her mid-thigh denim shorts. On top of that she wore a colour block bomber jacket featuring colours that stung Gihun’s eyes if they lingered too long.
The final thing she wore, was a faint scowl across her face as she woefully peered out the car window. Unfortunately she didn’t have the pleasure of a walkman. She had asked for one for her sixteenth birthday that had passed the previous week. Little late for that now. 
Maybe for Christmas pondered Gihun as his gaze returned to the freeway, and his mind returned to a somewhat peaceful state. 


‘Welcome to Santa Carla!’ read a large road sign as the sea slowly came into view of the Austin Metro. It was a typical summer beach town. ‘Tourist trap’ as Junhee had called it. It was the type of town that only really existed during the summer. Come autumn, the tourists would filter out, and the residents would live on their new income until summer rolled around again. 
Nevertheless Namgyu had decided to enjoy it while he was here. Or at least convince his dad he was. His mother and father had been divorced for almost two years now , and it was clear that this trip was to try to make up for the missed ‘family time’. Gihun was big on family time. Throughout Namgyu’s childhood he had witnessed his father depart and return week after week from the horse races. Gihun never directly told him wether he had won or lost, but the screaming matches taking place in his kitchen afterwards, were a somewhat clear indicator. 

Eventually, Namgyu’s mother had had enough and pretty much walked out on them. Namgyu and Junhee still see her regularly. Most holidays they even spend together as a four, but nowadays they just live with, and subsequently travel with, their father. 

Namgyu removes his walkman from his ears and lazily leans over towards Junhee.

’Hey look,’ he says, vaguely gesturing with his hand to the sign outside the car window.

’Santa Carla,’ a lazy grin crawls up his lips. ‘You know they call it murder capital of the world.’ 

Junhee sighs exasperatedly. She doesn’t have the mental strength to argue with Namgyu’s obvious, and frankly embarrassing attempt to scare her. 
She isn’t ten anymore, listening to Namgyu describe the horrors of his first year at middle school and how they apparently lock you in an un-oxygenated brick cupboard if you answer a single question wrong. 

‘No they don’t,’ she sighs and continues lamenting how her life has gotten her to this point. 

‘Ah you’re right they don’t,’ Namgyu begins, taking on a false tone of sincerity. His not-so-subtle grin widens. 

‘They don’t just call it murder capital of the world, it is murder capital of the world.’ 

‘Namgyu don’t start now.’ Gihun tuts, his hands firmly on the steering wheel and his eyes to the road.
‘We all want to be able to enjoy our new life here. I’m sure you kids will make tons of friends. And look, even better you guys will get to see your grandmother more, huh? Isn’t that great?’ His voice pitches higher and higher as he goes on. Namgyu mentally kicks himself. He forgot the reason he moving in with his grandmother, was due to his father’s money problems. And here he his, joking about murder in a town his father wants so desperately for them to enjoy living in. 

‘Yeah dad, you’re right. It’s gonna be fun,’ Namgyu adds as he pulls his walkman back over his ears and leans back into his seat. 

Junhee’s mind however, was in a completely different place. Namgyu’s comment, at first didn’t rattle her, but now passing the seventh missing persons poster in this town she starts to question the veracity of her brothers earlier statement. 
‘Murder capital of the world.’ Awesome. At least if she dies here she doesn’t have to listen to the incessant chatter of just how amazing the olympics were. 

Her thoughts however, are silenced, as instead of passing her eleventh missing persons poster, the painfully neon font of a carnival poster catches her eye.
Hey, that wouldn’t be so boring. 

It’s mid after noon, around four pm by the time Gi-huns car rolls up the rocky driveway to his mother’s house. 
Namgyu steps out the car and into the hot sun of Santa Carla. He squints into the sunlight as he slams the car door, and raises a hand to pull his sunglasses down over his eyes. His grandmothers house is actually a decent size, if slightly creepy.

Nonetheless, it’s much bigger than his apartment back at home, he thinks as he slings his backpack over his shoulder and ascends the porch stairs to the house entrance. 

‘Halmeoni?’ Namgyu calls out upon entering the residence. 

No answer.

‘Must not be home,’ Namgyu mutters to himself. He’s not sure where he’s staying, so he stands and surveys the area while waiting for Gihun to enter. Directly on front of the entrance, is a large fireplace. Atop it, is hanging what looks to be a taxidermy deer head. Interesting. 
In fact, upon looking around the area there seems to be quite an abnormal amount of taxidermy animals scattered about the place; he notices an owl on the coatrack near the entrance, a fox on a desk by the stairs, and another deer head, bigger than the last one attached to the wall next to the stereo on his right. 
The layout of the house is pretty simple. The living room is large, large enough to fit a stereo a couple sofas and a small TV. 

‘Oh a TV! Thank god for that, fuck knows what else there is to do in this town,’ exclaims a seemingly relieved Junhee as she enters the house from behind Namgyu.  

He also notes that on the left hand side of the living room there’s a large open door frame, leading to what seems to be the kitchen. And on the right of the room are the stairs, leading to a balcony looking down on the living room area. Very spacious. 

From the kitchen appears an elderly woman. She’s dressed in what Namgyu can only describe as ‘lumberjack clothes.’ She wields a large knife in her hand. And suddenly the abundance of freaky dead animals in the house are making sense. 

‘Ah! Namgyu, Junhee, you’ve grown so big since last I saw you! Your father keeps you away for far too long you know,’ she tuts extending her unoccupied arm for a handshake. She’s a little unconventional for a grandma, but she’s always been nothing but kind towards their family.

’How old must you be now Namgyu? What, fifteen?’ 
Namgyu and Junhee share a confused look.

’Nineteen now, halmeoni.’ 

‘Ah how time flies,’ she muses. ‘Well, off you two go to unpack. Last and second last door on the right.’ She points towards the stairs. 

She turns to resume whatever she was doing in the kitchen, before suddenly, turning back.

’Oh and stay out of my office, yeah? Don’t want you two getting hurt.’ She smiles again and motions to the stairs, once again before heading back to the kitchen area. 

‘Who keeps their office right next to the kitchen? God knows what she has in there,’ Junhee complains, walking up the stairs and turning left towards her room. ‘Oh and Namgyu?’ 
His eyes move to hers in recognition as he removes his sunglasses and stuffs them in his jeans pocket. 
‘There’s this uh, carnival tonight. There’s gonna be music and whatever. Dad’s not gonna let me go alone, I know it. Take me?’ she petitions, a hopeful tone in her voice. 
He ponders for a bit. Of course he’ll go. What else is there to do? On top of all that, her big puppy eyes stare up at him, and when she does that, he rarely says no. 

Mistakenly sensing hesitation, Junhee tries again. ‘Come on man it’ll be fun! You can probably buy some cool jewelry there or something.’ 

‘Yeah, yeah I’ll go. Be ready for six, kay?’ 

‘Perfect.’ Junhee gleefully disappears into her room. 

Namgyu simultaneously, enters his room, flops on his rickety bed and takes a nap.

He awakes thirty minutes later as his grandmother passes his room with what seems to be, a stuffed rabbit in her arms. He hears her enter Junhee’s room. He smirks. 

Through the thin walls, he can hear the door open and  Junhees subtle attempt at a shriek. 

He laughs to himself and closes his eyes once again. 

Chapter Text

By around seven pm the amber-rose hue of the evening summer sky, had faded to a jet black canvas, speckled with bright stars. Junhee trots a couple strides behind Namgyu as he marches ahead toward the bustling crowds of the carnival.

The evenings in Santa Carla were painfully hot, and so Namgyu had abandoned the grey knit sweater on his bedside table, and instead he donned a plain white t-shirt. Junhee had also abandoned her bomber jacket, and so the two siblings had unintentionally left the house in matching shirts, much to Gihun's delight. The cool sea air flooding Junhee's lungs, did nothing to help the twist of anticipation in her stomach at the sight on front of her. The contrast of the multicoloured carnival lights against the midnight black backdrop of the sky was nothing short of magnificent. Her stomach was basically in knots as her gaze fixated on the largest rollercoaster she had ever seen. The carts twisted and plummeted and the faint screams of those who had the pleasure of riding, rang out across the carnival car park.

She had to convince Namgyu to ride with her.

As she eventually pulled her gaze from the blinking lights of the ferris wheel, she opened her mouth to voice her request to find that her brother was gone already. 

Upon surveying the area, she spotted familiar black matted hair conversing with a stall vendor on the right side of the carnival, as apposed to the left side. The side will all the rides. They had been there for thirty seconds, and Namgyu had already ruined her evening plans. That has to be some sort of record. 

Junhee skilfully navigated through the carnival-goers and cotton candy stalls, and made a beeline for her brother. She caught up with him as he handed a bill to the vendor and in turn was handed a leather jacket. Of course he'd ditch her for some goth-rocky shit like that. 

He turned to face her as he stuffed his surprisingly toned arm into the sleeve of his new jacket. 

"Come on man, what're you-"

"Yeah, yeah we can do your stuff now. Damn, Junhee I'm not your babysitter, you can survive ten seconds without me," Namgyu grumbled, adjusting the smooth leather around the collar of his jacket. 

Junhee wasted no time, taking hold of her brother's shoulders and pointing them in the direction of the fair rides. The pulsating lights of the Drop Tower were practically calling her name now.

'"Hold on a second man, wait," Namgyu held up a hand and brushed her hands off his shoulders. "Live music that way," He pointed toward the right side of the area. "Some American artist is playing, Tim something-or-other." 

Junhee grimaced. 

"Look dude, the rides will be here waiting for you when it's over. The music isn't going to play all night," Namgyu tried gently. 

Junhee remained unconvinced. 

Oh well. So much for being gentle. This time, Namgyu took hold of Junhee's shoulders and pointed them at the right side of the area. 

"We're either going this way, or I'm going straight home and telling dad you stayed out doing drugs, or something," he said in a low voice, just about audible over the blaring funfair music.

"Whatever," Junhee murmured begrudgingly, and allowed herself to be directed through the swarm of people and stalls, towards the sound of... was that saxophone?

-

By the time they'd found a spot, Junhee was admittedly quite enjoying the music. She wasn't a huge fan of shirtless dudes playing saxophone, but found herself bobbing her head along to the melody.  The strobe lights on the outdoor stage shone brightly, blinding anyone who had the misfortune of coming face-to-face with them, and bodies collided and mingled in the crowds surrounding . 

Namgyu stood next to his sister, his hands shoved into his pockets. The light breeze blew faintly in his hair, pushing his raven locks away from his shoulders and face. His eyes lingered on the stage for a moment observing the way the androgynous guitarist gracefully moved their fingers, and then to his sister. He almost felt bad dragging her here, until he noticed how her body was swaying to the music, seemingly feeling the music as much as the rest of the people here were. He had noticed earlier the way her eyes had fixed on the hypnotising lights of rides that spun a little too fast for his liking.

So he'd rather enjoy the atmosphere of a concert than spin endlessly on vomit-enducing rides, sue him. 

His eyes left Junhee and flicked up back to the stage, before something, or rather someone caught his eye. Making his way away from the front of the crowd, was a young man, no older than Namgyu's age. His pale porcelain skin was illuminated by the stage lights, and his large, dark sad eyes caught Namgyu's for a split second. Despite the puppy-dog look to his face, his eyes were intense, and unblinking as he glided through the crowd, almost undetectable. As he got closer, Namgyu studied how the man's cheekbones were captivatingly sharp, despite the roundness of his face, and how the white of his linen dress shirt almost perfectly mirrored the colour of his skin.

As the wind blew slightly, the young man's flatteringly cut hair blew on front of his eyes, and Namgyu snapped out of his stupor.

He had to follow him. He wordlessly left Junhee's side, as he followed the linen dress shirt, and black skinny jeans that belonged to the beautiful stranger he had first seen mere seconds ago. He began to push through multitudes of bodies, earning him frequent dirty looks, but he was too entranced to notice. He had to keep his eyes on that white linen shirt. 

"Where are you going?" Junhee exclaimed, turning back seemingly confused as to why her brother was attempting to escape the live music he so desperately wanted to listen to earlier. 

Just as she was starting to enjoy it too. Makes sense. 

Namgyu continued to amble through the crowds, and she received no response. She walked to catch up with him, and followed his vision to the mysteriously attractive looking man shuffling through the crowds. 

Checks out. 

"Jesus man, can't you keep it in your pants for one day?" Junhee scoffed, rolling her eyes. This got Namgyu's attention.

"Sorry 'Hee." He reached into his jean pocket, his eyes leaving the pale stranger to flit to Junhee for a split second, handing her 40,000 won. "Do whatever you want. I'll tell dad we stuck together the whole night." He gave her a pitiful smile, and she turned on her heel happily with the 40,000 won. He doesn't guess he'll get any of that back. His thoughts returned to the young man, as he his pace quickened in an attempt to reach him.

"Uh, hey," he began as he caught up to the man. The stranger's gaze lifted to meet Namgyu's. "I'm Namgyu."

"Hello, Namgyu." He spoke softly, yet each word was clearly audible. He continued to drift out of the crowds as Namgyu joined his side.

"What's your name?"

"Minsu. Park Minsu, but my parents call me Star."

Namgyu stifled a snort.  "Star, huh? Your parents hippies too? Swear, I was this close to being named Moonbeam or Moonchild or something," he laughed, extending his thumb and index finger. Minsu didn't respond but continued to smile at Namgyu and float through the hoards of people.

"Minsu's nice though. Minsu," he repeated, as if trying out the name in his mouth. "Pretty name."

"So is Namgyu." Minsu turned to face him and Namgyu's eyes couldn't help but linger where the top two buttons of Minsu's dress shirt lay unbuttoned, exposing part of his chest and the red-stone and silver necklace that hung from his neck. 

Namgyu would never admit how his heart fluttered at the comment. What was wrong with him? They had now walked so far that the saxophone was barely audible from the exit of the carnival. He found himself in view of his motorcycle, or rather his grandmother's, parked where he had left it at the dock. This was the end of the road I guess. May as well shoot his shot.

"So uh, Minsu," Namgyu began, "Wanna get out of here?" he gestured toward his motorcycle. No more than a beat passed before Minsu replied.

"Sure. I'd like that," Minsu continued to smile gently up at him. 

As they sauntered past the merry-go-round and approached Namgyu's motorcycle, several others pulled up beside them, tyres screeching against the pavement. There were four motorcycles, atop them a rather strange looking group of individuals. Each of them looked about Namgyu's age, he got a better look as the vehicles stopped and they took off their helmets. He noticed they all wore similar clothing, except for a few personal accessories. The first to take off their helmet, a girl. She had short cropped hair, a lip piercing and what seemed to be the same leather jacket Namgyu wore, with the exception of what he assumed to be D.I.Y. stitching.  Namgyu couldn't help but wonder how sick they'd look in a band together. The second was a man shorter than Namgyu, but slightly taller than Minsu's height. He wore a dark denim jacket adorned with spikes at the front with a cropped white tank top underneath. There wasn't really much else special about him except for his modern style mullet, and silver feather earrings dangling from his ears. On the motorcycle behind him appeared to be... a small child?

The last person however was objectively the most memorable of them all. Upon taking off his helmet Namgyu's eyes were subjected to the apparent lavender farm growing on his head. Purple hair.

Seriously, the man looked like a grape. Altogether, the man had a pretty unique look. His purple hair was spiked up to mimic devil horns, black eyeliner lined his eyelids and he donned a knee-length black coat, black leather pants and large sword earrings. Namgyu continued to walk toward his motorcycle, before he realised his beautiful companion wasn't following.

"Hey Minsu!" the purple-haired man called out cheerfully. He sat atop his motorcycle, hands occupied with his helmet and a large grin stretched across his face. "Where do you think you're going boy?" 

Minsu remained silent for a moment as the purple haired man and his friends stood expectingly. 

"I'm sorry Namgyu." His gaze lowered and his personality seemed to flip one-eighty degrees as he begrudgingly made his way towards the bike of the short-haired girl. She handed him a helmet as he clambered on the back of her bike.

Huh?

This was weird. This didn't seem like the same boy who floated through crowds of people, calm and unfazed. He probably should've been concerned for Minsu, but the annoyance pinching chest clouded his vision as he made his way towards the group.

Who the fuck did these people think they were? Better yet, who are they?

"Hey man you can't tell him what to do. We were kind of in the middle of something there," Namgyu snapped at the purple haired man. Namgyu was decently tall and broad shouldered, so he didn't expect his act of intimidation to be taken so lightly. Did he say something funny?

The grape-looking man laughed heartily in response. "Haha! I like you already boy! What's your name?" 

"Namgyu," he replied. 

"You seem fun, Namsu."

"Namgyu." 

His correction was ignored, and the man continued.

"I'll tell you what. Since you're so keen to hop on that motorcycle, what do you say we race down to the cliffs? Sound fun?" he beamed. Perhaps if Namgyu weren't so irritated he would've noticed the sly grin creeping up the man's face.

"That sounds like a great idea Thanos!" piped up the boy with the feathered earrings.

Thanos? What kind of a dumbass name is that? He recognised it from some Ironman comic he had been subjected to listening to Junhee talk about. The purple guy? At least the hair was making sense now.

In his annoyance, Namgyu quickly agreed, and hopped to. He pulled his helmet over his head, missing the warning glances Minsu was shooting his way.

He followed the motorcycle gang as they pulled out of the carnival area, buildings and people disappearing as they moved towards the more rural areas of Santa Carla.

Chapter Text

Junhee wandered through the carnival, grass soft under her shoes as her eyesight was invaded with the popping colours of fair rides. Fair rides that she could be on right now, if someone hadn't ditched her just to get his dick wet. The last hour here Junhee had spent, browsing stalls in hopes of finding a Batman no. 14, and riding some of the rides by herself. They didn't seem to be as fun when Namgyu wasn't next to her, trying his hardest not to start hollering when they reached the peak of the rollercoaster, but still thrilling either way. Specific rides however, she refrained from going on. Not that she was scared, obviously but she kind of wanted to do them with Namgyu. Call her sentimental, but she kind of missed hanging out with her brother. Any time she wanted to go play the new Ultima game, or check out the new stock at the comic store, he'd always be somewhere else. 'Too busy' to simply go with her to the arcade. She'd always managed to get Gihun to make Namgyu go on scary rides with her, under the guise that she was too scared to go on her own, but not this time.

Some brother, ditching her in the dark in 'murder capital of the world.' At least she had money now. After spending half of it at the fair, Junhee figured that she wouldn't be getting a ride home, and started to walk away from the blaring carnival lights and into the darker, but equally busy town plaza.

She had barely walked two steps down the street that she hoped led to her grandmother's house, before the bright neon lights of a comic book store caught her eye. Finally a sense of normalcy in her life here. She made a beeline for the store and slipped in past the crowds, causing the little bell on the top of the doorframe to ring out a small noise. It was relatively busy for a comic store at night, she thought as she strolled through the isles and neon memphis carpets, waiting for something to catch her eye.

She eventually stopped and leaned forward over a shelf of comics to browse through the Batman section, before feeling a pair of eyes on her. Multiple pairs of eyes in fact. Before she had a chance to turn and look, she heard a voice snicker something almost inaudible, one phrase she did however pick out was 'city kid.'

She made to turn back and look, but was startled by a voice in her right ear.

"Hey kid,' the voice spoke. She lifted her head to look at the speaker. He was a kid himself, no older than Junhee's age. She found it ironic how the boy that had just referred to her as 'kid," was relatively she same height as her, shorter if she had thought to wear her Adidas. The boy wore an army-print t-shirt, dirty grey jeans, and a red bandana was wrapped around his forehead.

"Where you from? San Francisco?" he half said to Junhee, and half snickered into the ear of the boy next to him. He giggled in response. The boy next to him was marginally taller than him. He wore a navy blue tank top, with a grey hoodie tied around the waist. The boy's black hair fell around his shoulders and was half tied up in a sort of ponytail above his head.

Junhee was baffled by the question. Did she look American?

"No? I'm from the city." Junhee replied confused, her fingers still lingering on the comics on front of her. 

"Ah, makes sense," said the taller boy eyeing her clothes, "City kids and their American fashion," he tutted.  

What was their problem?   

Her face crumpled into a slight frown, and she was about retort when the smaller boy spoke to her again. He gestured with his eyes toward the comic books that her fingertips still grazed.

"Don't go touching stuff that you're not gonna buy," he sneered. Junhee definitely liked this one less. "The Gap is down that way," he motioned out of the store, smirking still.

Junhee sighed, and began to walk slowly around the comic book-stuffed shelf on front of her and continued to browse as she replied.

"Got a problem guys?"

"Just scoping your civilian wardrobe," the shorter one began again, sauntering next to her to match her pace, studying the vibrant colours on her shirt.

"Pretty cool, huh?" she smiled, feeling his gaze burning the back of her head.

"For a fashion victim," muttered the taller as he too sauntered over.

Great. She barely has any time to herself in this town, and when she does she's being cornered by geeks.

"If you're looking for the diet frozen yoghurt bar, it went out of business last summer," leered she shorter of the two. He was evidently finding himself very funny.

"Actually I'm looking for a Batman no. 14," Junhee replied cooly as she turned to face them, her fingers still flicking through shelves. 

"That's a very serious book you're looking for, man," piped up the taller boy.

"Only five in existence," added the shorter.

"Four, actually," Junhee argued. "One belongs to the author, but I'm always looking for the other three. Got to be out there somewhere."

"And," she continued, "You can't put the Superman no. 77 with the 200s. They haven't even discovered red kryptonite yet," she fussed over the comics on front of her disapprovingly. "And you can't put the no. 98 with the 300s. Lori Lemaris hasn't even been introduced." Junhee continued to walk and absentmindedly shuffle comics as the two boys shared a puzzled look, before starting after her again. 

"Where the heck are you from? Krypton?" the taller one questioned, as the shorter disappeared into the store behind him.

"Seoul, actually. But lucky me we moved... here," she sighed as the shorter boy reappeared and extended his hand towards her. In it was a comic book, one that wasn't her usual type. The cover read, in large crimson dripping letters, 'Vampires! Everywhere!'

The illustration featured a man with a cape, yellow eyes and sharp canine teeth- it wouldn't take a genius to figure out the plot. Might take these two a while. 

"I don't read horror comics. I don't like them," Junhee replied dismissively and continued her search for Batman 14. Still the shorter boy's arm remained extended. He shared a look with his taller friend, that Junhee couldn't decipher.

"Oh you'll like this one Miss Seoul," he began.

"It could save your life".

⊹₊⟡⋆

Junhee awoke around 9.30 the next morning. Her head now hurt as her eyes flit open, no doubt due to the rides that threw her back and forth and dealing with those two geeks from the comic store last night. 

Chapter Text

Fueled with blind irritation, Namgyu mindlessly trailed the paths of the three identical Kawasaki Ninjas that rose and fell along the darkened, rural hills of Santa Carla.

As the wheels of his bike scraped against the gravel paths, Namgyu’s mind raced just as fast.

An endless stream of thoughts pounded Namgyu’s brain as his bike skipped and bounced over hills in the path, and unbeknownst to Namgyu, his motorcycle ventured further and further into territory he was concerningly unfamiliar with. 

He wasn’t sure why he was now following a group of gothy strangers, deeper and deeper away from a town he already knew little about, and into darkened hills only vaguely illuminated by sterile lights on the front of their bikes, but he sure knew he had to.

Why he had to… he still didn’t know.

But an unexplainable magnetic pull to an ethereal stranger, guided his bike as it made lefts and rights toward a vast nothingness, which had to be at least half a mile from the now fading carnival lights of the town square of Santa Carla. 

The one thing he could rationalise out of all this, was a ration-less feeling of contempt towards the violet-haired group leader.

Since childhood, Namgyu could never stand being the one out of control. He wasn’t proud of it, but he was kind of a bitch in middle school.

Maybe a little in high school too. 

He’d forged, and abandoned various friendships throughout his school life. He couldn’t stand being looked down on. The one toxic flaw that had cost Namgyu a lot more than it should have. 
For most of elementary school and part of middle school, Namgyu played the second-in-command role in his friend groups.
He trailed around after whoever seemed most ‘in charge’, happy to look down on everyone else and join in on snide remarks and acts of intimidation when he felt that’s what his friends wanted.

This whole act soon crumbled when he turned thirteen, realising he didn’t have to seek the approval of another thirteen year old boy, and began his own sadistic rampage of bitterness and violence.

He had thankfully grown out of it by sophomore year, but feelings of inferiority to this day never failed to invoke his outrage.

Namgyu had been so caught up in his thoughts that he had just enough time to realise the lights on front of him, had disappeared.

His eyes focused on the sight on front of him as he realised he was meters away from barrelling off the edge of a cliff, and straight into the murky depths of the blackened ocean below.

‘Fuck!’ he yelled as he frantically squeezed the break handles and he threw his body weight sideways, his bike skidding and tipping over. Namgyu’s shoulder slammed into the earth beneath him as the oxygen was pulled from his lungs and he struggled to gulp down air. 

After figuring out how to breathe again, Namgyu felt a pang of fear pull at his chest as he gazed at the three hundred metre drop, mere feet from where he lay. 

Regaining his senses and pushing himself up off of the dirt, his ears were invaded with the hyena-akin laughter of voices behind him. 

There stood the five dark figures. They had unusually quickly, dismounted their bikes, and three of them were now cruelly laughing at the sight of Namgyu on front of them. Minsu stood silently, his eyes not timid but avoidant as they focused on points that were anywhere but Namgyu. Beside him stood the small child-looking figure, that Namgyu should have registered as strange far earlier in the night. 

The annoyance that lingered in his mind had now become a furious rage that burned through his body, fuelled by the stinging humiliation and inferiority he longed to never feel again. 

’What the FUCK is wrong with you people?’ Namgyu advanced toward the tallest of the group, fire fuelling every step.

He grabbed the violet-haired man by the collar of his coat and demanded answers. 

‘Is this some kind of fucking joke? Some kind of fun gag? You lead people toward a cliff and swerve away at the last fuckin’ second? Real fuckin’ funny.’ 

The act hadn’t had the effect Namgyu had hoped for. The laugher had by now, subsided but an amused smirk was still spread across the face of the man looking down at him. 

‘Hey, hey Namsu,’ Thanos began calmly, seemingly completely unfazed by the event that had previously taken place.

‘We didn’t mean anything by it now, did we Semi?’ he turned to look over his left shoulder at the girl behind him, smile still evident in his voice. 
‘It’s just a joke man, you weren’t gonna get hurt.’

The short haired girl, presumably named Semi, shook her head, the same amused grin lacing her lips. 

‘Not at all!’ eagerly piped up the shorter boy at his right shoulder. 

‘Not now Gyeongsu,’ Thanos dismissively waved his hand in Gyeongsu’s direction, and turned back to face Namgyu again.

’Now, Namsu, how ‘bout to make up for it you come hang with us? Our spot is right here,’ he charmed, with a somewhat genuine smile, and that same thing that Namgyu couldn’t quite place earlier. ‘We have chinese food,’ he added hopefully.

’My name is Nam-gyu.’

Chapter Text

Namgyu now sat on a dusty victorian-style armchair, a takeout box and a fork between his fingers.

Namgyu was intrigued to find out that the 'spot' that belonged to Thanos and his group, was the crumbling lobby of a subterranean victorian hotel. The hotel had been swallowed up by an earthquake in 1906, and now lay beneath the hills in rural South Korea, only accessible by an entrance on the beach shore. It far more resembled a cave these days, rather than a grand hotel lobby. The wallpaper, once a symbol of wealth and opulence, was now greying and peeling off the walls and the formerly extravagant furniture, beginning to erode. The floors were eneven, and jagged rocks stuck out in the corners of the cave. 

The lobby room was the only surviving room of the earthquake, the other rooms either crushed beneath rock or completely blocked off by the large boulders that were visible along the edges of the cave.

The only other evidence that this place was once a hotel, were the few dusty royal-coloured carpets that attempted to cover the rough stone that covered the floor. It was obvious that someone had strategically placed them in an attempt to make the place more inviting, and Namgyu had to admit, it kind of worked. This however, wasn't the only thing these people had done to make the place more 'their own.' Shells, and various other objects were dangled from the ceiling, and victorian candlesticks were strewn in multitudes across the uneven floors. On the bare stone walls, were climbing patches of dead ivy, assorted rock records and various posters. The most notable, a large picture of Jim Morrison, lead singer of The Doors.

Away from the centre of the floor where Namgyu now sat, were various bohemian style curtains which were hung up in a way that separated certain areas of the place, as if to imitate structure and privacy. Did all these people live in here?

It was dark in there. The only sources of light being the dozens of assorted candles that covered the floors, the warm glow of a barrel fire that Namgyu now sat next to, and the pale sliver of moonlight that had entered through a crack in the ceiling. The moonlight amplified the paleness of the strangers that sat facing Namgyu now. 

Their chairs and benches were arranged in a sort of weirdly curved semi-circle, the barrel fire in the centre distributing a small orange glow reflecting off of Namgyu's jawline and amplifying his freckles. Namgyu's chair was placed slightly further from the rest, in a way that the group were facing him, and he alone was facing them.

Thanos faced Namgyu exactly, while the other two sat close behind. 

Minsu sat a little further back from the rest, not so far that he wouldn't be associated with the rest, but beneath his cool demeanour, Namgyu could sense something was bothering him. Minsu was the whole reason Namgyu was here, and he knew it.

So why distance himself and leave Namgyu to sit face to face with a purple freak? God knows.

Nevertheless, feeling pairs of eyes on him, Namgyu began to dig into the rice using the fork in his hands.

After a couple seconds of silence Thanos spoke, cool and calculated, trying to hold back the grin aching to pull at his lips once again.

"So, Namsu. How're the bugs?" he asked nonchalantly, his eyes on the fork that was digging into his own noodles. Namgyu shovelled a forkful of food into his mouth once again, and through a mouthful of rice managed a muffled, "Hmph?" in response.

"Maggots, Namgyu," he clarified, a faint smile now on his face. He lifted his gaze to look Namgyu in the eyes. "You're eating maggots. How do they taste?," he now grinned cruelly. Namgyu, confused by the statement, reflexively turned his eyes back down towards the box of rice that was still in his mouth.

Except it wasn't rice anymore.

Namgyu's stomach churned, as he observed in horror, the soft-bodied legless larvae that wriggled and squirmed around in the container he had just been eating from. That his mouth was full of.

In his alarm, he instinctively dropped what he was holding, and harshly spat out the contents of his mouth, as writhing larvae spilled out onto the floor. He felt sick. He could practically feel the maggots twitching and twisting inside of him. He continued to cough and spit, as the familiar cruel cackling echoed out and bounced off the walls of the cave.

After his coughing fit had subsided, Namgyu re-opened his eyes once again. He was ready to start a fucking fight, when his eyes met the floor. 

Instead of witnessing once again, the squirming white bugs that had been in his mouth mere seconds ago, he saw - rice. Fucking plain rice. What the hell was going on? He hadn't recalled smoking a joint earlier that day, so there was no possible explanation for damn hallucinations other than pure insanity.

"Woah, chill out nervous tweaker," spoke Semi through laughter. This seemed to spur Thanos and Gyeongsu on even further, causing them to each throw their heads back and cackle even harder, each of their hands clapped on the others shoulder for balance. The only other person than Namgyu that didn't seem to find this so funny was Minsu. He glared daggers at the rest of the group, before speaking for the first time since he and Namgyu met at the carnival.

"Enough, Thanos. Leave him alone," Minsu warned, tone almost threatening.

Sighing loudly after his fit of laughter had subsided, Thanos' face turned apologetic.

"All right, all right. Sorry 'bout your food my boy. No hard feelings, huh? Why don't you try some noodles?" He grinned like a cheshire cat, extending his own takeout box toward Namgyu.

Namgyu blinked in disgust, looking down at the worm-filled box presented before him. "They're worms."

"What do you mean, worms?" Thanos questioned, a dramatised puzzled expression on his face as he took a handful of worms between his chopsticks and raised it towards his mouth. 

"Don't eat-" Namgyu started raisng his hands in attempt to stop him, alarmed at the prospect of more bug eating, as Thanos' jaws clamped down on the-

Namgyu blinked again as he watched regular takeout noodles disappear behind Thanos' lips.

"They're only noodles, Namgyu."  

Laughter once again broke out behind him and Thanos continued to shovel noodles into his mouth, an amused smirk on his face.

Minsu watched Namgyu's simultaneously puzzled and alarmed expression across the room with pity, and decided he wasn't taking this anymore. He stood up.

"Subong," Minsu snapped voice raised, his eyes cold and face tight. "I told you that's enough. Come on."

The laughter abruptly stopped.

The man whose body was once convulsing with reckless waves of laughter, was now dead still. His confident and charismatic demeanour had vanished completely in an instant. Any remnants of his usual charm and charisma had left his features, leaving behind only the 'something' that Namgyu couldn't place earlier.

What he now recognised as bare cruel fury.

"Don't fucking call me that, Minsu!" he yelled, his eyes leaving their fixated point on the floor. He stood up suddenly, turning to face Minsu as Semi weakly waved a hand between them, and Gyeongsu moved closer, preparing to grab onto Thanos if things got worse. Their facial expressions didn't scream panic, in fact their reactions seemed to imply that this bipolar behaviour wasn't out of the ordinary for Thanos. The fact that this kind of anger didn't rattle them really should've rung alarm bells in Namgyu's head.  

"My name is Thanos!" Thanos continued on. "Subong is dead, do you understand?"

Minsu gave no response, yet didn't back down. His eyes were level, yet piercing and his body stood without shaking. He stood quietly for a moment before making a gesture to Thanos that Namgyu couldn't quite understand.

Minsu subtly furrowed his brows, and gave a slight shake of his head, to which Thanos took a moment to decipher. Thanos' tightly drawn face loosened and he turned back to look at Namgyu, studying his face as if trying to make a decision. His head turned back to look at Minsu, his face softening further, and sporting a growing grin. 

Namgyu felt very out of the loop in all this. He felt as if he'd missed out an entire conversation of strange exchanged glances, as Minsu, Semi and Gyeongsu sat back down as if nothing had happened, and Thanos excitedly skipped off, away from the main area, and behind patterned curtains.

He re-appeared soon enough prancing over scattered candlesticks, with what appeared to be a bottle of red wine in his hand. Thanos stopped abruptly right on front of Namgyu, wine bottle outstretched towards him, a childlike smile occupying his mouth. Completely different guy than from a couple minutes ago. Oddly scary.

"Here! Drink some of this Namsu." Namgyu studied the bottle, taking the smooth surface into his hand. It was filled with a red liquid, presumably red wine and Namgyu gave an internal sigh of relief upon seeing the bottle wasn't filled with red beetles or something. 

Why the hell not? Free food, free wine- multitudes of times better than sitting at home watching his grandmother haul around creepy animal carcasses. As Namgyu raised the bottle to his lips, across the room Minsu's eyes widened in recognition at the silver and red-gemmed wine bottle that he knew all too well.

By the time his mouth caught up with his brain, Namgyu had already taken several gulps of the red liquid, rendering Minsu's protests, futile.

Namgyu tuned out the voice across the room, ignoring the cry, "It's blood! Don't drink it!"

Yeah, yeah. Maggots, worms and now blood- what's next? His sister Junhee isn't actually a sister at all- but a giant mosquito?? See, but he knew that already. 

He continued to gulp down the weirdly thick liquid, determined to embarrass himself no more tonight. He wasn't falling for any of this. 

Exclamatory shouts rang out as Namgyu removed the bottle from his now red stained lips.

"Bravo my boy!" Thanos warbled out in English, pulling Namgyu into a bear hug that he didn't reciprocate. Namgyu didn't understand, but judging by everyone's reactions it had meant he had done something very good.

"Well, you were right Gyeongsu," he heard Semi sigh happily as he was released from Thanos' grip.

He heard murmurs of something like 'perfect timing' as he tried to understand what had just happened. What had he done?

"What's going on?" Namgyu questioned.

"Namgyu wants to know 'whats going on'," grinned Semi. "Gyeongsu? What's going on?"

"I don't know. What's going on Thanos?"

"Who wants to know?" replied Thanos, a mock quizzical expression on his face.

"Namgyu wants to know."

"Hmm.. I think we should let Namgyu know 'what's going on,'" he smiled self-consciously.

Namgyu felt a large hand clamp down on his shoulder as he was directed out of the cave and towards the beach shore. Minsu remained stood where he had been standing for the past five minutes. He didn't follow, his large eyes filled with concern as he watched the boy with the long hair disappear out into night before him. He sighed before sitting back down. Maybe he should talk to Namgyu later.

˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪  ౨ৎ˚₊

The sounds of engines died out as Namgyu and the other's bike slowed to a halt at the train tracks that Thanos had insisted they go to. 

The train tracks were seemingly abandoned, the tracks themselves rusting, and the wood of the bridge supporting it looking concerningly fragile. Namgyu scanned the area bellow the bridge as he removed his helmet, the night breeze lazily pushing the hair out of his eyes. The only light available came from two faintly glowing streetlights and the headlights of each of their bikes as they left them behind to start advancing towards the bridge. Namgyu couldn't tell wether below the bridge was a 6, or 50 foot drop, a thick fog blocking his vision.

The people he walked alongside cheered and whooped as they basically pranced shoulder to shoulder, further into the night. If he hadn't known any better, he'd gave guessed they were high out of their minds, though he hadn't seen any of them so much as touch anything but chinese food all night.

He quickened his pace, his hair lightly bouncing and earrings swaying as he repeated his earlier question.

"So uh, guys. What's going on?"

A sly grin of satisfaction washed over Thanos face as he began to repeat the direction the conversation earlier. He turned and stopped to look at Namgyu, Semi and Gyeongsu following suit as they stopped just short of a large hole in the tracks.

"We'll Gyeongsu," He was finding himself very funny right now. "What's going on?" Gyeongsu's face registered in understanding and excitement as he turned to look Namgyu dead in the eye before he spoke, taking a precarious step closer to the hole in the train tracks on front of them.

"Goodnight, Namgyu," Gyeongsu smirked before taking another step closer to the large hole. This had evidently been a step too far, as Gyeongsu's slender body swiftly disappeared, dropping into the murky fog below.

Namgyu was horrified. He had barely had time to react before one by one the people around him, too, disappeared into the unknown. 

Had these people really just killed themselves on front of him? He had to be there for that? Despite knowing the strangers for two hours at this point Namgyu felt a twinge of panic in his gut. I mean, people had just died on front of him.

He stood, appalled, for a split second before stumbling forward and peering down the hole. Three pale faces grinned back at him.

They smiled up at him, their arms outstretched and gripping the metal scaffolding that was holding the bridge together, legs swinging carelessly as they began their whooping and shouting once again.

"Namsu my boy! Come on down," Thanos laughed in a low voice, motioning with his head for Namgyu to join them.

Namgyu's body moved before his brain could catch up, still reeling from the confusion of the entire evening. He shuffled onto his butt, dangling his legs over the side before lowering himself down, white knuckles gripping the metal scaffolding as he let his legs sway in the wind. The scaffolding was arranged in a large square, leaving Namgyu face to face with Thanos.

Gyeongsu and Semi reeled in the adrenaline, still hollering as Namgyu turned his attention to Thanos, his face wearing an amused smile as he continued to stare directly at Namgyu.

"Fun, huh?"

Just then, a dreadful sound rang out. The scaffolding above them began to lightly shake as the sound of a train whistle rang out not too far in the distance.

Oh fuck.

"Ah, shit!" Namgyu exclaimed, his body building up to a panic as the track shook tremendously and his knuckles whitened as he gripped the metal pole as tight as he could. The reaction of the others couldn't have been more different. Gyeongsu and Semi began to laugh uncontrollably, Thanos joining in with a light chuckle.

"Hold on!" Thanos now yelled over the deafening whistle of the train, his body shaking and jolting with every rail being passed over. 

Namgyu was finding it increasingly hard to hang on, fear panged in his chest and stomach as he felt his grip on the iron bars loosening. 

Namgyu once again watched in horror as Gyeongsu's fingers lost their grip and he abruptly dropped from the bars on the bridge, letting out a large 'woo hoo' as he disappeared from view.

"Jesus Christ!" Namgyu yelled over the train as he turned his head up and watched Semi too lose her grip and drop into the nothingness below.

"Don't be scared Namgyu!" she too cried out as she made her descent. Namgyu turned his head to Thanos, in a panic that no longer gnawed at, but consumed Namgyu.

Thanos' presence was Namgyu's last hope that his own fate wouldn't mirror that of Gyeongsu's and Semi's. He looked at Thanos, wide-eyed with concern as Thanos continued to grin pointedly at him.

"You're one of us now Namsu! Let's go!" he yelled dragging out the last word.

"What does that mean?"

Without responding, Thanos too joined his gang and dropped into the dark below.

Namgyu was now alone. As his grip faltered, he couldn't help but wish he were on one of those vomit-inducing rides Junhee longed to drag him on. His hair whipped round his face in the wind as his body shook and jolted faster with the vibrations of each rail. 

Cold, engulfing dread filled his body as he felt his fingers lose their last resolve, and he too plummeted into the darkness.

˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪  ౨ৎ˚₊

What the actual fuck had he got into last night.

Chapter Text

Namgyu now sat on the edge of his bed, leg bouncing as his mind relayed the images of last night in his mind over and over again. 

There’s no way that all happened- right? 

Although, it had felt so real. His knuckles now ached as he reached over to pull the thin curtains over his window. 

He was so damn tired, the sun practically burned his eyes. He had half a mind to flop back onto his bed and go back to sleep, but he reminded himself that sleeping in until 2pm was more than enough for anyone, and so forced his aching body to stand up. 

He decided not to think about the previous night's events. And he had for sure decided he wasn't going out tonight. Real or not, he didn't want to risk running in to any more beautiful men, and whatever people they may be associated with. 

His thoughts of Minsu were quickly replaced by a sudden and overwhelming hunger. He hadn't eaten since the rice that he had subsequently spat out last night- or did that even happen..? He made a mental note to ask Junhee what she remembered about last night as he padded downstairs and towards the kitchen. 

Meanwhile, Junhee had spent the better part of her day, enjoying- no- inspecting the comic she had received the last night. Actually, it wasn't half bad. It was definitely interesting, but really not worth all the raving she'd heard from those two geeks the other evening. Nonetheless, it was a comic, and so pulling her eyes away from the vivid images of crucifixes, garlic and vivid crimson, she decided she'd finish it in the bath later.

Entering the living room, Namgyu noticed his grandmother's alaskan malamute lay lazily atop the couch and he briefly bent down to scratch him behind his ears. The collar on his neck read 'Sangkeumie.' Quite a cute name for such a menacing looking dog. As Namgyu's knees hit the floor, the dog's ears went back, and it hastily hopped off the couch and ran upstairs. 

Weird. He'd never seen the dog act so weirdly with Junhee. Since they arrived it had been trailing her around, even when Namgyu ventured into her room to take her to the carnival, he'd found the large thing sitting in her lap. Picky bastard. 

Nevertheless, maybe a little irritated, Namgyu reluctantly got back up and made his way into the kitchen. Junhee stood at the fridge, seemingly having the same idea as him. His grandmother suddenly appeared from her office, a large duffel bag over her shoulder and various disturbing looking tools in her hands. She wore work boots and old clothes- it was obvious she was going out for work. Still, Namgyu asked,

"Got evening plans Halmeonie?"

"I'm going to drop off some of my handiwork to the 'widower' Kim," Namgyu's grandmother smiled as she stuffed her tools into her bag and advanced through the kitchen.

"What'd you stuff for her? Mister Kim?" Namgyu smirked, receiving an annoyed look from Junhee. Their grandmother ignored the comment. 

"See you two kids later!" she chirped, leaving the kitchen and slamming the front door behind her. 

"That wasn't funny Namgyu," Junhee remarked, taking a carton of ice cream from the fridge freezer and beginning to dish it out for herself. "That was just freaking weird." He made a show of rolling his eyes at her as he tucked his hair behind his ear and took her place on front of the fridge, opening the fridge door, surveying the contents for anything edible. Junhee smirked at the action, her eyes landing on his exposed earlobe.

"Lose the earring. It's not you," she studied the feather dangling from his ear. "Its definitely not you," she laughed, now distracted from her ice cream.

"Piss off," Namgyu grumbled. There really was nothing in this fridge apart from meal ingredients he wasn't bothered to assemble, and strange looking containers he didn't want to know the contents of.

"All you do is give attitude lately," Junhee tutted. "You've been watching too much Dynasty man."

"Go take your bath Junhee," Namgyu remarked, and Junhee happily did just that, taking her ice-cream and trotting up the stairs.

Namgyu's scanned the fridge once more and sighed. Still nothing. He couldn't be bothered to cook, and his dad would probably bring something home anyways, so he sauntered back to the living room, sat down on the dusty couch and began to flick through the limited channels on his grandmother's TV. 

An hour or two went by, and Namgyu could still hear Junhee warbling along to their grandmother's old records over the noise of the bath running upstairs as the golden sun spilling in through the windows began to resemble sunset glow.

He smiled fondly. She was so fucking weird. 

His thought was interrupted as his stomach again twisted in hunger, more powerfully than it had been in the past two hours. He couldn't ignore it anymore, something, anything from the kitchen would have to do.

He entered the kitchen and repeated the motion of throwing open the fridge door.

Milk. As the hunger gripped him from the inside, he decided, that'd have to do.

He grabbed the carton and began gulping it down ravenously. He was allowed a few brief seconds of relief, when as the milk hit his stomach, his throat began to violently constrict, causing him to choke and sputter, his body harshly rejecting the pale liquid. Namgyu dropped to his knees from the force of it all, letting the carton slip from his hand and fall to the ground, the frothy liquid pooling on the kitchen floor. The milk was also far more sour than usual milk would be- it was completely vile.

Once his coughing had subsided, Namgyu wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and inquisitively decided to check the date on the milk carton. Shit must've been deeply expired to cause that sort of reaction. He turned his attention to the milk carton below him, ready to scan the label for an expiration date, when something bigger caught his eye. There was a missing child's notice plastered on the front of the carton. That part wasn't what caused Namgyu to pause- missing persons faces on posters definitely weren't something uncommon in this town, it was rather whose face it was.

Namgyu immediately recognised that small face on the front, as the one he had seen at the carnival. And on the hills. And in that cave. 

It was the same child he had seen trailing behind Minsu and his friends the entire night last night, the large eyes, the nose the hair- it was no mistake.  The information above the boy's picture read '진호' - Jinho. Seven years old. He was reported missing about a month ago. 

This simple picture added to Namgyu's growing suspicion that last night was real. It practically confirmed it. How else would he be able to recognise a face he hadn't seen before?

Before Namgyu's thoughts took him any further, he was hit by another wave of all-consuming hunger. God, still??  It was worse now. His stomach no longer grumbled, but hurt. A gnawing emptiness grew inside of him as his rationality began to blur, and he lost the ability to think rationally for himself.

He now stood up. Gaze directed past the living room, and onto the stairs. He needed something other than milk. He craved something thicker.

Something warmer.

His feet moved on autopilot toward the second floor as flashes of last night came back to him. The feeling of the red liquid on his lips temporarily brought him relief, and simultaneously fuelled his hunger to drive him to insanity. He imagined the feeling now.

He imagined the warmth of the thick liquid, running down his throat, spilling from his lips. He imagined the ecstasy of it pooling in his stomach, silencing his hunger, filling him up and recharging him to feel better than ever. He imagined the sensation of his pearly white teeth piercing skin, spilling blood and dirtying his teeth, his clothes and the skin splayed out before him.

Why this thought had occurred to him, he didn't know. He didn't question it. 

His body implored him to act on it. His hand now tightly gripped the banister of the stairs, his feet firmly planting themselves with each threatening step towards the muffled music and the sound of running water.

Junhee, meanwhile was blissfully unaware of her brother's dangerous crisis, and the very real threat that was slowly inching toward her. Her copy of 'Vampires! Everywhere!'  now lay on a side table abandoned along with an empty bowl of melted ice cream. She gripped her hairbrush as a mock microphone and sang along in a high pitched voice to her grandmother's copy of 'I Ain't Got No Home.' She had made the bath just the way she'd liked it. Mountains of bubbles, steaming hot water, ice-cream, her comics, music- she was living the dream. The only downside was that the bathroom door didn't have a lock. Perks of living in a forty year old house, I guess.

However, her father and grandmother were gone, only Namgyu remained in the house, and she figured she was making enough noise to let him know the bathroom was occupied. 

"I ain't got no one. I'm a lonely girlllll!" Junhee trilled out, before holding her breath and submerging into the bubbles beneath her.

At that moment, the bathroom door swung open and there Namgyu stood, mind gone and far away from where he was now. Dangerously far. His eyes were void of personality, and fully occupied by ravenous starvation.

As he took a step closer, he was suddenly yanked backward, a searing pain in his right hand. He turned to see the jaws of his grandmother's alaskan malamute clamped around his palm, teeth sinking into his flesh, as he stumbled and fell backward, unfortunately landing at the foot of the stairs. Sangkeumie continued to yelp and bark as Namgyu went tumbling and crashing down with a thump. The impact slammed Namgyu out of his stupor, leaving him aching, bleeding, and entirely weirded out at the bottom of the stairs.

The commotion alerted Junhee as she pulled her head from beneath the water and stared out at the cluttered landing before her. Quickly throwing on a dressing gown and slippers, she peered out into the hallway.

"Namgyu, are you there?"

She walked further toward the stairs.

"Sangkeumie?"

She continued advancing the landing until she spotted Namgyu in a heap at the last step, Sangkeumie continuing to bark in his ear. She began to advance faster down the stairs.

"Namgyu, what happened?" she exclaimed puzzled. She turned to tend to the dog. "Ah, Sangkeumie.."

Namgyu was confused at the lack of attention he was receiving. Wasn't he the one with holes in his hand?

"What about Sangkeumie?" he grumbled, standing up and lifting his injured hand to push his hair out of his face

Now spotting the blood on Namgyu's hand, Junhee turned to him appalled.

"What did you do to the dog, asshole?"

"Nothing, I didn't hurt him," Namgyu snapped defensively. 

"He bit me. This is my blood."

"Well why'd he bite you then, huh?" Junhee questioned suspiciously, bent over and running her hand over the dog's forehead. Namgyu shuffled uncomfortably. It was occurring to him what he had just done.

What he was about to do. 

How could he even think of doing something like that? What was happening??

"He was protecting you." Namgyu answered, but the words were lost on Junhee. Her attention was now focused on something behind Namgyu, her face, a deathly shade of white. 

"Turn around," she almost whispered in awe. "Look at your reflection in the mirror."

Namgyu turned and peered at his reflection in the mirror. Or rather what was meant to be his reflection. 
The only part of his appearance he could truly make out was his earrings, seemingly dangling from thin air. 

Actually, upon further inspection Namgyu was kind of there. Instead of his normal, solid-bodied appearance, the best way he can describe it is as if the particles in his body were deconstructing, and he himself were fading. Like a shitty kind of hologram of himself was staring back at him. His day just couldn’t get fucking worse. 

Meanwhile, Junhee deep in thought, had pieced a rational explanation together.

“Y-you’re a creature of the night!” she exclaimed in disbelief, her wide-eyed and slack-jawed expression staring back at Namgyu in the mirror. “Just like in the comic books…” She now realised why that book was so important. Ah, so that’s what those freaks were on about!
The words of Myunggi echoed back to her. ‘Pray you never have to call us.’ Well, fuck she had never been religious, but maybe she should’ve been praying. 

The vivid and disgustingly detailed art from her most recent read now flashed through her head, page by page. And on the back, a number. ‘The Frog Brothers.’ 

“My own brother! A goddamn shit sucking vampire! Just wait ‘till dad finds out!” she yelped. 

Fuck it, she was calling that number. She dashed back up the stairs, racing to grab the comic from the bathroom. 

“Junhee-ya! Wait, Junhee!” Namgyu scrambled after her. It sounded like she knew what was going on with him, and there was no way in hell their dad was finding out about this right now. She wasn’t getting to that phone. 

“Stay away from me ‘Gyu!” echoed a voice from the bathroom. 

He bolted up the stairs as Junhee raced out of the bathroom, comic book in hand, and down the hallway where she subsequently slammed and locked the bedroom door behind her. 

Namgyu’s hands pounded on the bedroom door as Junhee’s hands frantically fumbled with the dial-up. 

“Just let me talk!” Namgyu desperately tried, fists slamming on the wooden door as he heard the receiver lift and Junhee’s voice flow the cracks in the door. 
She tuned out Namgyu’s protests as she began to converse. 

“You did the right thing by calling us,” a forced gruff voice stated through the reciever. This was definitely Myunggi. Another, less low voice piped up through the muffled speaker. 

“Does your brother sleep a lot?”

“Yeah, all day.” A pause. The other voice spoke now. 

“Does the sunlight freak him out?”  Junhee considered for a moment. 

“He wears sunglasses in the house.”  Daeho spoke again now. 

“Bad breath? Long fingernails?” he pondered. Junhee considered again. She tilted her head and looked to the ceiling in thought. 

“I guess his fingernails are a little longer…He’s always had bad breath though.” Unintelligible whispered voices bounced back through the receiver, before they spoke out loud to Junhee again. 

“He’s a vampire alright.” Myunggi confirmed. Junhee let out a sigh of discontent. Her fears had been confirmed. Time to bring out the garlic. 

“Here’s what you do,” Myunggi continued, voice steady as if he had practised these words many times before. “Take a good, sharp stake, and drive it through his heart,” he spoke lightly and nonchalantly, as if he were telling Junhee how to fix her drier, not mutilate her brother.

“I can’t do that!” Junhee complained appalled. “He’s my brother, my dad’d kill me..”

“Okay. We’ll come over and do it for you.” Again, in a tone not quite fitting the situation.

”No!” protested Junhee decidedly. A large sigh rattled through the speaker. Daeho spoke again. 

“Well then you’d better get yourself a garlic t-shirt buddy. ‘Cause you’re on your own.”

Junhee hung up the phone call at that. She should’ve known that conversation would be unsuccessful. She dialled the next number. 

“Hey, dad,” Junhee started. She awaited her father’s reply in silence. Complete silence.

Namgyu had gone silent. Strange, she didn’t notice that happen. The thought was a little unsettling.

Had something happened? Had he left? Was he on evil mode again? The questions were endless, and each more worrying than the last. 

Her line of sight was directed at the door still. She looked beneath, and saw no brother-shaped shadow peaking out underneath. That was slightly alarming. For all his shouting and hollering, it wasn’t likely he just ‘gave up.’ 

“Junhee? Everything alright?”

Her father’s voice interrupted her thought. She averted her vision from the door, and turned to gaze out into the endless darkness outside the window next to her, as she spoke.

When, she couldn’t.

Beyond the thin glass pane that separated Junhee from the outside, was a sharp-jawed, long haired figure. Namgyu. 

She gave a start, losing her grip on the telephone cord coiled around her finger and gave a short yelp.

”Ahh!”

She stumbled back a few steps, and a pang off annoyance prompted her to start berating her brother for scaring her, when she remembered the situation they were in. Not to mention the fact she was standing face to face with her brother, outside the window on the second floor of the house. 

“What’s going on there?”

Junhee started to back away from the window, horrified at the sight before her. 
Namgyu’s reaction wasn’t all that different. His expression, wasn’t one of a person who was intentionally levitating, rather someone who was suffering a tornado, and doing their best not to fly away by clinging onto the next piece of furniture. Which was exactly what it looked like he was doing. 

His knuckles gripped the windowsill as his hair whipped and leather jacket flapped in the wind. He was slanted, as if the wind was blowing him to the right, and his expression was nothing short of downright panicked. His eyes were now large, and seemed to plead with Junhee as his knuckles whitened and arms ached, but her mind was completely somewhere else.

“Help!” she yelped, raising a hand up to the window, completely ignoring Namgyu’s pleading glances as she made a ‘stop’ sign with her hands, as if Namgyu could move freely right now. 

“Junhee I’m getting worried,” her father warned through the phone. That’s right, her dad! He could save her from this nosferatu. 

Namgyu began to plead verbally now. 
“Junhee! C’mon man let me in!” he shouted over the harsh winds and flapping curtains of the room. He continued to shout and plead as Gihun continued.

“What are you doing? Is that Namgyu?” he questioned, getting more and more concerned with each passing second. “Who’s breathing like that?” Junhee scrambled to get her words together. She spoke loudly into the reciever, keeping a safe distance from the rapidly flapping curtains, and now brandishing a stuffed owl as a weapon. 

“Dad! I, uh can’t talk on the phone. It’s about Namgyu.”

Muffled shouts of ‘don’t listen to her dad’ and ‘she doesn’t know what she’s saying’ made their way through the thin window panes. Namgyu’s slightly elongated fingernails began to claw at the window frame, trying to get it open.

This initiated a ‘fight or flight’ response in Junhee, as Gihun began to hear screams of ‘he’s coming to get me!’ and ‘dad help! He’ll kill me!’ through the phone speaker.

These being the words no parent ever wants to hear, Gihun became frantic as he rushed to reassure Junhee and hang up the phone.

“Junhee, I’m coming, you wait right there!” 

And then nothing. 

Namgyu’s pleads had still not ceased as he clawed and banged at the window, his panicked expression mimic Junhee’s. 

“Junhee-ya! Open the window!”

”Never! I know you’re a blood-sucker!”

”I-I’m not!” he faltered in response, his resolve weakening. This was not unlike a previous experience he had had not too long ago.

“So what are you then? The flying nun?!” Junhee exclaimed as Namgyus pleading expression became one of desperation.

”No! I’m your brother Junhee. Please.”

Junhee hesitated. She could see where this was headed. And she’d quite like to keep her blood inside her body, thank you very much.

But looking into his eyes now, she no longer saw the vampire, or the motorcycle-driving earring-wearing punk rock dude, but the same boy who gripped her hand so hard to the point of stopping circulation when they hit the steep drop on rollercoasters. Those same large, scared eyes looked back at her, and he was suddenly fifteen again, taking twelve year old Junhee on their eleventh rollercoaster of the day. It had never really registered to her at the time, how much it meant for him to do that for her. To force a smile, and hold her hand, and console her when she became hesitant. 

He was reaching out his hand to her again, waiting to be gripped, comforted so they could face something terrifying, together, again. Although, this time it was Junhee being lead into something. This time, she would have to trust Namgyu. She looked back, ashamedly and realised this was the first time she was doing this for him. 

This was long since overdue. 

Junhee pushed back her fears, as she pulled back the window and reached out into the swirling darkness on front of her. Namgyu’s shaking hand took hers, and she hauled him in through the window, both of them falling back and hitting the wooden floor below. 

As soon as Namgyu hit the floor, the curtains stopped flapping, and the window gently swung shut. 

Namgyu breathed deeply, hand clamped on Junhee’s shoulder. 

“Thanks,” he panted. Junhee felt a twinge of guilt. Perhaps she had left him out there too long. 

‘How did you-? How did-“ Junhee stuttered, still in disbelief. 

“I was gonna try throw rocks at your window,” Namgyu grinned sheepishly. “And I stood outside, rock in hand, just thinking about getting in and stopping that phone call and- I don’t know. There I was.”

Namgyu regained his composure, and they helped eachother up off the floor. 

“What are we gonna do about dad?” asked Junhee. 

“Just don’t tell him anything.”

”This isn’t like getting a ‘D’ in math, Namgyu.” Junhee retorted.
She had a point. Namgyu patted her shoulder reassuringly. 
 “I’m gonna work this out, okay?”

Ten minutes later, Junhee sat lounging on the couch, book in hand when she heard the front door swing open, Gihun immediately locking eyes with Junhee and rushing towards her. 

“Junhee are you alright?” he asked out of breath, clutching her arms. “You had me scared to death.” 

“I’m okay dad. I was reading a horror comic and got a little carried away. Thought someone was breaking in,” she laughed awkwardly. Gihun looked at her in disbelief. 

“You-you got carried away by a comic book?” 

“Yeah… sorry.”  Gihuns face changed from concerned to annoyed. He sighed as he began to stride into the kitchen. 

“I’ve just about had it with you two.” He tutted as he entered the kitchen. 
“And this mess? Who spills milk all over the floor and doesn’t bother to clean it up?”

”I didn’t spill it…” Junhee mumbled. 

”With the refrigerator door open too? Are you trying to refrigerate the whole neighbourhood?” 

Gihun paused. He sighed as Junhee began to help mop up the spilled milk. 

“I’m sorry Junhee. It’s just hard trying to get you guys to adjust here.. and- I’d like to have a personal life too y’know?”

Junhee was feeling increasingly guilty this evening. She apologised.

”Ah, it’s okay ‘Hee. Where’s your brother?”

“He, uh went to bed early tonight.” 

Meanwhile Namgyu sat in his room contemplating. So he was a vampire now? He’s guessing this had something to do with the liquid Minsu called ‘blood’ last night. 

Fuck, he’s so stupid. He needed to go speak to Minsu. 

Right now. 

Chapter Text

As the sun set fully, Namgyu no longer felt the powerful draining feeling that had confined him to his bed in the early hours of the afternoon. In fact, he felt great. 

Wrapping a cloth around his bloodied hand, Namgyu crept out his window with one ambition on his mind. 

Talk to Minsu. 

All of this began once he laid his eyes on the pale boy at the carnival that night. He would know what was going on. 

He hopped on the bike that had mysteriously re-appeared in the dark driveway of his grandmother’s house and rode out into the darkness.

˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪  ౨ৎ˚₊ 

“Minsu?”

Namgyu entered the dimly lit lobby as his stomach began to twist equally in anticipation, and in dread. He had made it this far. It had all been real. 

“Minsu?” 

He called out once again, stumbling slightly as he narrowly missed one of the many candlesticks strewn across the floor. He surveyed the unoccupied victorian chairs and the bohemian style curtains, behind which was what looked like two makeshift beds of pillows and blankets, one large one small. The place was seemingly empty. No flashes of violet hair. No whooping, no hollering.

Was last night real? Namgyu was seriously beginning to doubt everything he'd experienced at this point. He wasn't a trustworthy source. And if not, how had he known how to get here, and- 

“I’m over here, Namgyu,” a soft voice echoed out across the cave. It was definitely him. Namgyu’s head swiveled to try to find the source of the voice, as his spine chilled at the sight of the ghostly boy standing right behind him. 
All right, this was getting too weird. 

“What’s happening to me Minsu?” Namgyu’s voice almost trembled as he spoke. 

No response. Instead Minsu’s face twisted with silent guilt as he moved forward and placed a hand on Namgyu’s chest in pity. 

Namgyu wanted to push the hand away. Who was he to get him into this mess, and have the gall to look at him as if he were an animal to be ached for?

Yet, he didn’t. Minsu’s hand was warm and comforting, and Namgyu fought the urge to pull him closer. He watched as the candle light danced in the reflection of Minsu's large brown eyes, and spoke again.

"What's happening to me, Minsu?" His voice was becoming increasingly frantic as Minsu's eyebrows furrowed deeper, and the hand on Namgyu's chest moved to graze his jawline. 

"Namgyu, I can't tell you. Im sorry." Minsu spoke as if the words stung his throat. His face was drawn up, and his large eyes spoke of sorrow and gentle sincerity. Minsu moved closer yet again, causing Namgyu's hands to instinctively hover over Minsu's waist.

"I... I don't know how to help you." The atmosphere was charged with emotion, as if every candlestick's glow emanated a deep passion. They flew around, and mixed, and intertwined until they became lost and confused, each deep sensation unintelligible from the other. They blurred indefinitely, as the two men conversed with words for the last time that night.

Namgyu's eyes bore into Minsu's. He hadn't realised they had gotten so close. 

"What's happening t..." Namgyu's voice faltered out as Minsu leaned forward and gently pressed Namgyu's lips to his own. They kissed slowly, each melting into the kiss. Nothing else existed in that moment except for the feeling of Minsu on Namgyu's lips, at his fingertips, his scent consuming and disassociating him from reality.

Namgyu's hands shifted from Minsu's waist to his jawline, one hand snaking around the back of his neck, as he deepened the kiss. 

The strong intensity of all Namgyu had been feeling, morphed and melted and became an insatiable desire as he kissed with all the fervour of a new convert, and pressed himself against Minsu harder. 

Minsu reciprocated with similar intensity, if a little gentler, as they each lost themselves in the moment, and still connected to one another, began to move toward the pile of pillows and blankets in the back corner. 

The rest of the night, only hitched breaths, soft huffs, and gentle whimpers could be heard echoing along the ruins of the crumbling lobby, with no one to hear but the two intertwined.

˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪  ౨ৎ˚₊

Junhee stood awkwardly at her father’s bedroom door, hand hovering over the doorknob. 

She hesitantly turned the knob and shuffled in through the threshold laden in soft pyjamas, comic book in hand. 

“Dad? Can I sit with you for a bit?” she asked hopefully. Gihun smiled, lifting his eyes from his old newspaper and patting the duvet next to him. He didn’t get to spend time with his kids like this. It was nice to see at least Junhee still needed him. 

Junhee moved forward and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Sorry ‘bout your thing with Inho tonight. Hope he didn’t get stood up,” she murmured guiltily. 

“Ah, don’t worry about that ‘Hee,” her father replied, his tone laid back and his eyes still kind. “There’s always tomorrow right? And anyways there are more important people in my life.” He sat up on his elbows. “ You’re not still shaken up are you Junhee? Come lie down,” he smiled warmly and again patted the empty space on the bed beside him.

Junhee obliged happily and began to untie her dressing gown. Gihun made a noise as if he had smelled something strong.

”Were you guys eating pizza earlier?” He inquired laughing lightly. “You smell like garlic.”

Undoing her dressing gown to reveal the garlic necklace she had recently DIY’d, she quickly re-did her gown and laughed awkwardly as she lay down beside her father. 

˖ ᡣ𐭩 ⊹ ࣪  ౨ৎ˚₊

Namgyu awoke reluctantly to the feeling of sunlight singing his eyelids. His eyes lazily fluttered open and were met with his face buried in the hair of the boy he now lay with his arm draped over. He gently removed his arm, and affectionately pulled the light blanket over Minsu's pale collarbone. He looked down at the sleeping boy below him as he pondered what he had done the previous night. The purple marks peppering Minsu's neck, and the absence of Namgyu's clothes made it no mystery. He recalled the reason he had came down here in the first place, and was reminded of his failure to retrieve answers. Looking at the boy now, Namgyu struggled to be annoyed at the lack of answers he received. People tend to look younger when they sleep, more innocent perhaps.

With that thought, Namgyu decided he'd come back later that evening. He didn't have the heart to wake Minsu up, nor the time to wait for him. If he didn't get home soon, his dad was going to kill him. Quietly getting up, Namgyu collected the clothes that had been hastily discarded in a path from the middle of the lobby, to where Minsu lay now, and before leaving placed a gentle kiss on Minsu's cheek. The boy was beautiful, even while asleep- he couldn't help it.

Tying his shoelaces, Namgyu felt the cloth on his hand slip off, and moved to return it to find there wasn't a single scratch on his hand. Not a single hole left, as if the sharp canines had never so much as touched the skin. Freaky. 

He didn't have time to think about this now, he'd get answers later. Right now he needed to force his again aching body to hop back on his motorcycle and try not to end up in the bay as he drove home. 

Namgyu now crept up the end of the long dusty driveway to his grandmother's house, stray rocks flying as he dragged his feet along the gravely surface. He didn't see any one outside and his father's car remained parked out the front. Maybe no one was up yet and hadn't noticed his absence. What time even was it anyway? 

He trudged hopefully up the steps to the porch and readied his now flawless hand to stealthily open the front door, when a voice to his right made him jump.

"Hi.' 

His father. Fuck.

"Namgyu," he began as he lowered the newspaper inn his hands to his lap on his decking chair on the right of the porch. The tone of his voice was unclear, and that unnerved Namgyu a little. "We're still friends aren't we?"

Namgyu was a little confused by the question. Though to be fair, everything was confusing right now. And very, very bright. His sunglasses were no help. He needed to sleep. 

"Sure," Namgyu replied indifferently. His feet itched to inch toward the door. 

"Alright. Then let's act like friends. Let's talk." Gihun crossed one leg over the other. "Namgyu, take off those glasses."

Namgyu's eyes refused to meet Gihun's. He very much didn't want to talk right now.

"Namgyu, look at me." Gihun's tone became less stern. Slightly softer with what seemed to be- concern? "If there's a girl-"

"I'm tired, dad."

"We could talk about-" Gihun tried to resume.

"I'm tired."

Gihun sighed. He felt so disconnected from his son these days. He tried, softer again.

"We can talk about anything you want to talk about."

"I have more serious things on my mind than girls and school dad. Things that-"

"Things I wouldn't understand?"

Silence. Namgyu shuffled uncomfortably. 

"Alright," Gihun sighed defeatedly, raising his hands up in a 'surrender' sign. "Go call your sister and tell her I'm in the car."

Gihun stood up and placed his newspaper on the chair before fishing his keys out of his pocket and walking toward the porch steps.

He stopped next to Namgyu for a moment. He peered through Namgyu's sunglasses and placed a hand on his shoulder. 

"You should go take a nap, son. You're looking quite pale." He squeezed Namgyu's shoulder. "Still here if you want to talk," he whispered before making his way down the porch steps and to his car.

Namgyu stopped at Junhee's room to pass on the message, before drawing his own curtains and dropping into a deep sleep. 

Junhee peered cat the dark red glass bottle at her feet as her father's old Austin Metro cruised along the suburbs of Santa Carla. 

"What's the wine for?"

"My apology to Inho for running out on him last night." Gihun clicked his tongue. "Which you, young lady, should be making."

Really not her fault that her brother decided she'd be the perfect appetiser. Which leads her to the reason she's in the car in the first place, like it or not, a certain pair of comic store workers could end up being the reason Junhee has enough blood in her body to make it back to Seoul in the autumn.

The car slowed to a stop in a rich suburban neighbourhood. The house they had stopped on front of seemed pretty large for the owner of a small-town video store. The garden was flourishing with vivid plants and behind a gate, an elevated polished-wood decking led up to the front door in a sort of bridge. This Inho guy was definitely well-off.

"I'd better bring this up to the front door," Gihun thought aloud as he grabbed the wine bottle and stepped out of the vehicle. 

He closed the small wooden gate behind him and began to walk down the polished decking. He had almost made it to the front door, when from afar, Junhee began to watch her father bolt straight back. 

Sticking her head out of the car window to get a better look, she watched as a large, vicious looking white shepherd chase her father down the garden. This could've been hilarious if not for the fact it seemed her father was in serious danger of losing a hand. The dog bared its teeth as it pursued her father, and `Junhee quickly hopped out of the car. 

Too frantic to try unlock the gate in a civil way, Gihun threw a leg over the top of the gate as he attempted to hoist himself over. Junhee snapped into action as she grabbed her father's arm and began to pull, as the dog ripped a chunk out of Gihun's trouser leg. 

"Get in the car, get in the car!" Gihun yelled frantically as he scrambled to his feet and gripped Junhee's shoulder as they clambered back into the car.

After breathing heavily in silence for 10 seconds, Junhee struggled to hold back the urge to giggle at the absurdity of what she had just witnessed. However, there were now bigger things on her mind. She had a lot to discuss with a certain pair of cousins.

"And get this- the dog chased my dad like the Hounds of Hell in 'Vampires! Everywhere!'"

"Mmm..," Myunggi mused,"We've been aware of some very serious vampire activity in town for a long time. Santa Carla has become a haven for the undead."  

The three of them huddled together in secrecy against large bookshelves in the back of the store. The shop looked much different at daytime. Less alive. No neon lights, and certainly less customers. 

"As a matter of fact, we're almost certain that ghouls and werewolves occupy high positions at City Hall," Daeho chimed in, as Myunggi nodded in agreement. Each of their faces wore the same comically serious expressions that Junhee encountered two nights ago. Myunggi turned to face Junhee fully, placing a hand on her shoulder as his solemn eyes bore into hers.

"Kill your brother. You'll feel better." 

Junhee pushed the hand off and shook her head.

"Look guys, my brother is not a bloodsucker." She presented the comic she had brought with her from home and began to read from it. "It says here, that if you kill the head vampire, all half vampires will return back to normal. And trust me, if my brother is a vampire, he's definitely only half." She trusted Namgyu's word on this. 

"Okay.." Myunggi started, "Does he know who the head vampire is?"

"Well, no. I don't think so."

"Then you'll have to kill him."

"And if you don't," Daeho joined in, "we will."

Junhee brushed off the last comment as she motioned for them to listen, and enthusiastically began to explain the theory that had been gnawing at her for the past hour.

"Look. This all started when my dad went looking for a job at that video store." She began to raise a finger with every point she made. "Inho doesn't seem to come to work until after sunset.  The dog that chased my dad was his."

"And get this," she began to read from the comic again. "Vampire's require a daytime protector, a guardian to watch over them as they sleep. Fierce dogs, hounds of hell are often employed for this purpose."

"What happens if my dad is seeing the head vampire?"

The boys eyes lit up in deep thought. They seemed to be thinking the same thing. 

"You could nail him and save Santa Carla." Daeho decided thoughtfully.

"Truth, justice, and the Korean way triumphs," Myunggi added, a grin forming on his lips.

"Yeah, thanks to you two."

They had listened. They had taken it. Junhee might just save her brother yet. 

The boys discussed unintelligibly in low voices. Junhee could tell they were trying to keep their cool, but excitement shone through in the way their hands moved and eyes lit up.

"We'll check out Inho for you."